Elex 2, the open-world RPG from Piranha Bytes, is celebrating its 1st anniversary. A year ago, players stepped into the shoes of Jax once more to bring thefactions of Magalantogether against the new Skyand threat or face these celestial beings on his own, and the game’s emphasis on choice, freedom, and so on certainly left an impression on fans.
Game Rant recently spoke with Piranha Bytes game designer Jenny Pankratz and THQ Nordic’s Florian Emmerich aboutElex 2’s 1st anniversary in a look-back at its video games, including thecult classicGothic. Piranha Bytes spoke about what makesElex 2stand out in the open-world RPG genre, its main strengths, player freedom, and what the studio has been doing since its release.
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Elex 2 1st Anniversary And Unique Game Strengths
Elex 2has received some mixed but also many positive reviews, plus some stiff competition from the release of popular open-world RPGs likeHorizon Forbidden WestandElden Ring, now getting an expansion.It was no doubt a challenging release period, but as many fans were invested after the first game, the title obviously still had many flock to it at launch.Elex 2received praise for its upgradable jetpack as an improvement on the original game, as well as a variety of other additions, and the grand storytelling that set up a potential threequel. When asked aboutElex 2’s turning 1-year-old and its main strengths, Pankratz talked about its unique features like flying and the variety within its vast open-world game experience.
Of course, it’s a role-playing game where you can fly. It’s a really unique thing and something that fits very well in our world. Vertical gameplay and a huge, open, interesting world are its biggest strengths, I think, and we tried to put many different kinds of role-playing game features into It. There are so many little things you can find in the world as the landscape changes. Very often, there are so many different kinds of characters, quests, riddles, and stuff to collect. Its variety is one of the other things I really like.
Piranha Bytes even explained the inclusion of flying was inspired by the character Iron Man and his ability to fly free-roam-style in theMarvel Legogames. That said, the studio had many other influences too including Bethesda titles,books likeLord of the Rings, and even movies likeEquilibrium. What’s clear is that, as often is the case in video game development, Piranha Bytes took its many inspirations and boiled it down into a game that is definitively a title of its creation, rising among other established IP likeGothicandRisen.
Elex 2 And The Importance Of Player Choices In Open-World RPGs
Elex 2’s vast open worldwas undeniably an ambitious project for the studio, described by Piranha Bytes as a “solid role-playing game” achievement. When discussing features the studio is most proud of in its entire gaming catalog to date, including itsGothic,Risen, andElexgames, Piranha Bytes spoke of the importance of player choice and creating a sense of realism thanks to player-first gameplay. This is a crucial feature for the studio for it to provide the best possible player experience in its games. As Pankratz described it,
There was one thing - some people call it old school - but I think it’s the most important and best thing we have. We create games where you can be the player character. I will give you an example. If you walk into a forest, for example, and you see something glowing in the dark and a huge mutant but you just had a rusty weapon and some kind of leather jacket, would you really fight against this mutant? I would say, no, you wouldn’t. You would maybe try to sneak if you can, maybe you would run away and come back later, maybe you would call for help.
We want the player to think about, what would you really do? Not what the game wants you to do. This is the most important thing about Piranha Bytes' games. We often ask people, what do you like most about our games? Some people say the atmosphere. And then we say, yeah, but what is atmosphere? We think that the most important thing is that we create games we want to play by ourselves and that we have fun with during development. We think people who will play the game afterward will also have fun then.
Giving players many choices and options helps create animmersive open-world video gameexperience, as it gives players a larger sense of freedom within a game’s possibilities. Creating less restrictive gameplay is something that is also clearly important to Piranha Bytes in their game experiences. As Pankratz explained,
Yeah, there are different types of players out there. Some of them like to fight most of the time. Some just walk around the world and look at what’s beautiful and collect flowers, for example, and some just want to play the storyline. Gameplay mechanics, to show the player what the best thing to do next is, in modern games is often very linear. We don’t like these linear things. We like free freedom and open-world elements, and we like that the players don’t ask themselves, ‘what do you want me as a player to do?’ We want the player to ask themselves, ‘can I do this, is it okay?’ ‘What consequences will the game have if I really try to? There are a lot of consequences in our games, and this is a good thing, I think.
Although the studio did not reveal what project they are currently working on, when asked what have been doing since releasingElex 2, she did say they are working on “another project” that “will be a role-playing game again.” However, whatever form the project takes, it is likely that creating aworld of choices likeElex 2and the importance of player-first gameplay may continue in their approach to creating open-world, player-driven RPG game experiences.
Elex 2is available to play on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
